I Don't Want To

I had an epiphany today as I was retrieving my vehicle keys from my turnout locker after a call. I couldn't quite remember where I put them before the tones went off, then it donned on me, I remember thinking to myself "I'll hang them on the hook because "I don't want to" loose them". How is this an epiphany you ask?, I then thought of all the other times I say to myself "I don't want to"

Some examples that immediately came to mind:
"I don't want to" be injured going to the call in the apparatus, so I put my seatbelt on
"I don't want to" be burned etc while at a fire so I put my turnouts on properly
"I don't want to" breathe smoke/toxic substances so I wear my SCBA when needed
"I don't want to" see my fellow firefighters injured, so I remind them of safety procedures also

You can kind of see the direction I'm going with this, by contexualizing what "I don't want to" and applying it to the situation at hand it makes you stop and think of what you should be doing.

How can this be applied to training? Make those that you are training stop and think "I don't want to" and apply it to the skill/thought process you are trying to teach/reinforce......

Can anybody think of anything that "I don't want to".........Try it, it might surprise you what kind of application it has to just about any situation/scenario you can think or dream of....

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Permalink Reply by Paul Montpetit on March 17, 2009 at 6:34pm

I had a class that I had to teach once....I had everyone write down every "I can't" that they could think of in 10 minutes.....after that I had them follow me and we went out back of the firehouse....I put all the slips of paper in a shoe box (mine included) and we buried them...sort of an "I Can't" funeral...I instructed them that for the rest of the class that they could not use the phrase "I can't" anymore because we bburied it in the funeral.....From that point on...the only acceptable responses were..."I can"...."I will"...."I will try"...It was a tough, physically demanding class...but after I had several of the students come up to me and thank me for the lesson....The "I can't" is dead...Sort of along the same lines....Stay safe and always remember to Keep the Faith.....Paul